No. 1436

Tournedos of Tenderloin of Beef a la Roqueplan

Tournedos de Filet de Boeuf a la Roqueplan

Prepare some tournedos the same as for a la Laguipierre (No. 1434); lard one of them with salt pork (No. 3, Fig. 52), one with cooked tongue, one with cooked ham, and one with truffles cut the same size as the pork. When the tournedos are done, glaze, then dress them on a dish, intercalating each one with a fried egg-yolk; place on top game quenelles (No. 91) shaped in a hollow tartlet mold, and decorated with truffles. Pour into the bottom of the dish, a tomato sauce (No. 549) mixed with half-glaze (No. 413) with clear gravy (No. 404), and garnish around with fried potatoes Julienne (No. 2792), just when ready to serve.

← No. 1435 Tournedos of Tenderloin of Beef a la Mariett Beef No. 1437 Tournedos of Tenderloin of Beef a la Talabas →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in shorthand for a professional brigade, with half the dish farmed out to other numbered recipes. Stripped down, this is seared beef medallions, each larded with a different garnish, plated with fried egg yolks, quenelles and a tomato-enriched demi-glace.

What a tournedos isA small round steak cut from the tenderloin, cut thin enough to cook quickly over high heat. The method is farmed out to No. 1434 (a la Laguipierre), which is not reproduced here, so the trimming, cooking fat and degree of doneness cannot be verified from this page.
Larding is the hingeThe point of the dish is four differently larded steaks on one platter: salt pork, cooked tongue, cooked ham and truffle, the truffle cut the same size as the pork. No. 3, Fig. 52 is the cross-reference Ranhofer gives for the salt pork; what it shows is not reproduced here. A modern larding needle will do the job. Chill the fat and the truffle firm before cutting, or the strips tear.
Fried egg yolksNot fried eggs. Yolks are separated, kept whole, rolled or floated in hot fat until set and lightly coloured, then drained. They are a period garnish and they set fast; work with one or two at a time and lift them the moment the outside firms.
Game quenellesNo. 91 is Ranhofer's game quenelle forcemeat; its exact composition is not given on this page. The mixture is filled into a hollow tartlet mould, as the recipe directs, and poached gently in barely trembling salted water or stock. Water at a rolling boil breaks them. If game is not to hand, a chicken or veal quenelle carries the dish; it will simply be milder than intended.
The sauceTomato sauce (No. 549) mixed with half-glaze (No. 413) and clear gravy (No. 404, a strained brown stock). Proportions are not given; loosen the tomato sauce and half-glaze with enough clear gravy to nap the bottom of the platter. Ranhofer directs it into the bottom of the dish, under the meat.
GlazingTo glaze here means brushing the cooked tournedos with reduced meat glaze (glace de viande) and passing them briefly under high heat to gloss the surface. It is a finish, not further cooking, so have the steaks at the doneness you want before you start.
Julienne potatoesMatchstick-cut potatoes, rinsed, dried thoroughly and fried; No. 2792 is not reproduced here. Ranhofer's instruction to add them 'just when ready to serve' is the important part, since fried potatoes soften quickly once they meet the sauce.
YieldThe recipe gives no yield. Four differently larded tournedos are named, with a fried egg yolk intercalated between each and quenelles on top; four servings is the natural reading.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years cooking at Delmonico's in New York, and it is organised as a professional reference: over 3,500 numbered preparations that cross-refer to one another rather than repeat themselves. The name is generally taken to honour Nestor Roqueplan, the Parisian journalist and theatre director who ran the Opera from 1847 to 1854 and was known in his day as much for his table as his management, though the connection is an inference rather than a documented one; Ranhofer, French-trained and Paris-formed, brought that habit of naming with him. The tournedos itself belongs to the same moment, a nineteenth-century Parisian restaurant cut rather than an old domestic one, and the four-way larding here is display cooking of a very particular kind: the same steak, garnished four ways, set out on a single platter.